You kidding? Between Jackman and Berre's salaries? It'll need to make 500 million dollars just to break even. And that's not counting the rest of the cast, special effects, wardobe, and main characters kill.

You kidding? Between Jackman and Berre's salaries? It'll need to make 500 million dollars just to break even. And that's not counting the rest of the cast, special effects, wardobe, and main characters kill.

August 28, 2007 - The official publicity site for Lionsgate Films has revealed that the title for the Punisher sequel will be Punisher: War Zone. No release date for the Lexi Alexander-directed sequel was given; the film is only listed as "coming soon."

Earlier reports had pegged The Punisher 2 as being called The Punisher: Welcome Back, Frank. The Punisher: War Zone was also the name of a Marvel comic book series that ran from 1992-95, as well as the title for a previous film sequel screenplay penned by Jonathan Hensleigh, who also directed the 2004 Punisher film.

Ray Stevenson stars as Frank Castle in this film, succeeding Thomas Jane in the role. The screenplay was written by Nick Santora, Kurt Sutter, Matt Holloway and Art Marcum. Filming begins this fall in Montreal for a release sometime in 2008.

Can't wait for the Punisher film. I really enjoyed the first one and the character is one of my faves. My only complaint is no Tom Jane. I thought he was an excellent choice for Frank Castle. Oh well...

As for the Magneto one, it'll be cool if they got Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan together again. I thought those two worked well together.

Tobey M of Spidey fame is set to produce and star in a Robotech project, so let's talk about that even though it isn't Marvel...

Tobey's very interested in it's 'rich mythology' and sees it as a 'sci-fi epic' in the making. This ofcourse puts his Spider-Man future in question, on top of rumors already stating that new leads were in the mix for Spidey 4. In either case geeks will get their fill of Tobey in the future.

Marvel were so surprised to see this other side of me with Stardust," Vaughn added. "They actually said to me, 'You are going to make Thor more macho? Right?' Well, don't worry -- Thor's not going to be wearing a dress." For Vaughn, "My only concern initially was that it's another fantasy film, but it's different in the sense that it's a superhero film set in the world of fantasy. You've got Thor and Odin and it's set in Asgard -- it's not going to be like Lord of the Rings or even Narnia. I think it's important to keep it comic book. We're not doing the Thor of Norse mythology. We're doing the Marvel Thor.

Sam Raimi has been meeting with Marvel and Sony execs about taking the Spider-Man franchise in new directions. They've been meeting with various writers who are giving their own spin on where the series can go from where it ended.

What better way to abandon unfinished story arcs and hire hot young actors who'd do a Spidey movie for slave pay. But I suppose I'm being spiteful over the current climate of comic-movies. It can be frustrating...

Anyway, Raimi may be in the other geeks target sights as he's expressed interest in directing the LotR prequel The Hobbit, if Peter Jackson doesn't return.

Wolverine's solo flick is expected to drop the summer of 2009. Liev Schreiber has been cast as a young William Stryker, the villain from X2. There will also be appearences from Victor Creed (Sabertooth) and other mutants from the X-Men series as well as ones new to live action. The official title is "X-Men Origins: Wolverine". We could expect the same treatment with Magneto's movie.

Kid actor Kodi Smit-McPhee as been cast as a young Logan in the upcoming X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Appearently the kid's a great actor, but I'm wondering if featuring a lil James Howlette means there'll be scenes adapted from my favorite Wolverine story, Origin. It would be kick-ass to include them, and I order you to check the book out if you haven't.

Jon Favreau enjoys directing Iron Man so much he's willing to do Avengers as well. He's excited enough to get right on it, but the studio told him to chill until the other heroes had their franchises established. Once the other heroes had their time in lime light, they'd be bought together (played by their actors and all) in the mega super-team movie event.

Everything I ever said about Marvel having inferior movies compared to DC over the years I take back with a side of crow pie. They're taking this super-team project seriously. How seriously?

I think it's a good idea if you use the characters established in the other franchises that then come together for an event. I don't think they would do it like they're doing Justice League where it's a whole different set of actors and a whole different take on the world.

Quote:

Originally Posted by IGN

Favreau insists that waiting for these films to go ahead would make The Avengers not only more impressive and formidable – but more consistent as well.

They reported awhile back that Liev Schreiber would portray the young William Stryker in the Wolverine solo film. Well that's actually not the case... He's actually set up to be Logan's nemesis Sabretooth. This naturally means Tyler Mane was probably never involved in the film (don't mind much).

Marvel is pushing for a Venom solo flick. They're calling it a spin-off which leads me to believe Topher Grace may return in the suit. To those that may not like that (I do, IMO) remember the legacy of the symbiote [in fiction] means anybody could wear the suit and be Venom, so a recast could fit in the current Spidey continuity as well (or whatever continuity comes of number four).

Speaking Of That:

James Vanderbilt (writer; "Zodiac") recently stated that he's eager to get down on the script for Spidey 4.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vanderbilt

It's sort of an odd process because you're sitting down with people who made the first three and going, 'Well, let me tell you what to do,' which is always odd.

That means ofcourse a story was accepted, but I can't say what it is (til they report it... I want my own sources!).

Iron Man Superbowl Spot:

New X-Men Cartoon Gearing Up:

Plot Summary Press Release:

"When an explosive event shatters the lives of the X-Men and takes away their mentor, the beaten heroes walk away from it all. But then they're given a rare glimpse into the future, and see a world in utter ruin, ruled by giant destructive robots. A world that spiraled out of control because the X-Men had given up. So now the most legendary of all X-Men takes the lead - Wolverine! Reuniting these broken heroes, Wolverine embarks on the ultimate mission - to prevent de world's destruction. To rescue us from ourselves. To save the future."

In the past decade the X-Men franchise has produced two top quality cartoons (Animated Series, Evolution), and it may continue with this new high concept series.